Maxtor L01R300 300GB Ultra16 Internal Hard Drive Kit (Parallel ATA, 7,200 RPM) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was fairly puzzled why this drive is designated a P-ATA when the thing installs like a regular S-ATA. The Drive Designation and the package on the box I have are exactly the same as the above advertised item.
I was looking to consolidate threeexternal drives on to one internal, so I can use a much larger backup drive.
Anyway, the Drive slots in to a DELLDimension 8200 easily, and simply... you do NOT even need a screwdriver( but it can help with two side clips, but not essential).
After booting back up, the Maxtor utilities on the disk are essential if you want the absolute most useable space ( PARTITION MAGIC and even the onboard WindowsXP Prodisk utils will notprovide you with the sameuseable space).

A word about some additional software. Do NOT use Maxtor's DDO ( Dynamic Disk Overlay ) option in the MAXBLAST Software if you have both Partition Magic 7 or 8, as well as Norton Utilities Premier 2006. The probability of an issue with BOOT.INI and the HAL.DLLfile is high. The good news is that using PFEDIT and then FDISK/MBR ( and no, thats not a typo... this switch works, and is not officially documented in MS windows TID's, technical info documents), which will change the Partition type from TYPE 44 to the type you need, if necessary, and also FDISK/MBR will rebuild the MBR( Master Boot Record).

After , essentially, activating the drive with the Maxtor utilites, if you set the power settings in control panel just right, the so called problem with disk spin "noise" is non-existent"; you only get the disk issue if you opt to "power down" when not in use. Mostly for me, thats not an issue, since all drives are in constant use.
The speed is mind blowing.
A word about Disk replacement life: on average, replace your drives every two years, unless you have the most fool-proof back up system known. No Drive is infallible, and each drive has a definite life. Each drive can *potentially* have a long life, but this depends on your useage level.
That being said, if you need a large drive, and have a mid to high end system, then this is a goodway to head.

1/4/08 :I just saw the comments/notes about the Dimension 8200 from Early 2007. All you do is put in any Drive above 137 GIG on an XPsystem and the Registry will automatically detect size differences and make changes to accomodate the larger drive. On Secondary drives this will work up to 300 GIG Guaranteed, and the space is almost totally available. Thanks to maxtors unique setup, the drive formats at almost total capacity. I still have the Same Dimension 8200 and I will be inserting either a 160 GIG ( Minimum )or a 500 GIG, maximum, in the C Drive ( I just have to back up the Current Drive disc, then reload it). You do need to ramp up the memory on the Dimension 8200 as far as you can go, so the more you can load the better. My system as RAM-BUS( thanks to some messing around by DELL at the time I purchased, but many 8200s have better memory), so I am a little hamstrung on the setup, but this beast has worked so well so far, I will likely keep it as a Test machine after some upgrades on the 8200 and a new machine as my main computer.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Maxtor L01R300 300GB Ultra16 Internal Hard Drive Kit (Parallel ATA, 7,200 RPM)

Product Description:
Get ultra performance and capacity with the Maxtor Ultra16 PATA 300GB hard drive. Featuring 16MB Cache buffer and and data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. Designed for power users, video editors and multi-media PC users who need the ultimate in performance. The hard drive kit also includes Maxtor's popular MaxBlastTM drive utilities for intelligent formatting and partitioning, a drive copy feature for duplicating your original drive and an easy step-by step installation guide. Maxtor raises the bar yet again on desktop hard drive performance! Data transfer rates up to 133MB/secMaxBlast drive utilities for intelligent formatting and partitioning Fluid dynamic bearing motor for ultra quiet operation9ms average seek timeEasy installation into desktop PCComplete upgrade kit

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Western Digital 320GB Scorpio Black with Free Fall Sensor SATA 7200 RPM 2.5IN 16MB WD3200BJKT Bulk/OEM Hard Drive WD3200BJKT Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This review applies to model WD3200BJKT not Model: WD3200BEKT which does not have the free fall sensor

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I purchased this drive to replace the 100gb, 7200 rpm Hitachi that came with my Dell Inspiron 9400.So far the drive has been equally as quiet, a little bit faster and of course much larger.I have noticed none of the vibration that a another reviewer noted.I have reinstalled Windows XP Pro on this hard drive at least five times in order to give the drive a good test copying and modifying files.So far this drive has passed every test with flying colors.

Pros:

Size - 320gb = lots of storage space.

Warranty - 5 year warranty (unheard of in a laptop hard drive)

WD's ShockGuard(tm) technology protects the drive mechanics and platter surfaces from shocks during shipping and handling and in daily operation.

WD's SecurePark parks the recording heads off the disk surface during spin up, spin down and when the drive is off. This ensures the recording head never touches the disk surface resulting in improved long term reliability due to less head wear and improved shock tolerance.

Free-fall sensor - As an added layer of protection, if the drive (or the system it's in) is dropped while in use, WD's free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head to help prevent damage and data loss.

16 MB cache

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In short, I am very impressed with this drive!

Click Here to see more reviews about: Western Digital 320GB Scorpio Black with Free Fall Sensor SATA 7200 RPM 2.5IN 16MB WD3200BJKT Bulk/OEM Hard Drive WD3200BJKT

Product Description:
WD Scorpio Black 7200 RPM SATA 2.5-inch hard drives from Western Digital combine a lightning-fast 7200 RPM spin speed with a SATA 3 Gb/s interface and 16 MB cache to deliver desktop-class performance. With 5400 RPM-equivalent power consumption there is no compromise in battery life. In addition, WD Scorpio Black hard drives are designed with ruggedness, reliability, and data-protection features that actively watch over valuable data. Available in capacities up to 320 GB, these hard drives are perfect for laptop users who require maximum capacity and lightning-fast performance. Free-fall sensor - As an added layer of protection, if the drive (or the system it's in) is dropped while in use, WD's free-fall sensor detects that the drive is falling and, in less than 200 milliseconds, parks the head to help prevent damage and data loss.

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Scythe Bay Rafter 2.5 conversion to 3.5 bay Rev. B Review

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(More customer reviews)Simple..and...cost effective; securely holds the SSD; does what it's intended to do..no unnecessary complication and easy to install.

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Product Description:
Scythe BAY RAFTER 2.5 Rev. B for 2x 2.5 Inch Notebook, Laptop, SSD Hard Drives into 3.5 Inch Bay: BAY RAFTER 2.5 Rev. B (Retail)Bay Rafter 2.5 allows the installation of a max two 2.5" HDDs or SSDs in a 3.55" bay and provides a fitting opportunity for a fan with 80, 70 or 60 mm in size. By this, users can perfectly choose between high cooling power, low noise level or passive mode. You can also attach one 80mm or one 70mm or one 60mm fan to this rafter to create a hard drive cooler. Please note that if you attach a fan, this setup may take up to TWO 3.5 Inch Bay inside your computer case. If you do not install a fan, then just a single 3.5 Inch Bay is needed.Optimal mounting of HDDs:With the Bay Rafter 3.5, max. two 2.5" hard disk drives or SSDs can be mounted perfectly in the 3.5" drive bays of a PC chassis.Wide range of fans supported:The Bay Rafter 2.5 offers mounting options for all 3 common fan dimensions. The user has the choice to mount one 80 mm, 70 mm or 60 mm fan.

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2.5" to 3.5" IDE Hard Drive Adapter Review

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(More customer reviews)I used this to mount a IDE drive from a laptop, it did it's job. You might have to poke a hole with a needle for a middle pin to fit in most cables like I did.

Click Here to see more reviews about: 2.5 to 3.5 IDE Hard Drive Adapter

Product Description:
Got an old notebook hard drive collecting dust on your shelf? Maybe your old notebook has given up the ghost but you need your data? Then this HD-108 universal notebook hard drive to desktop adapter is the answer you've been looking for! The HD-108 converts your 2.5-inch notebook hard drive into a standard 3.5-inch PC compatible hard drive. It features a 44-pin notebook to 40-pin IDE adapter and a large 2-pin Molex power connector! Mounting brackets and screws are included for easy installation in a 3.5-inch internal drive bay! Simply connect the adapter to the notebook drive and then to the desktop system! Order the HD-108 notebook hard drive to desktop adapter today!

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Scythe Bay Rafter 2.5 or 3.5 hard drive conversion to 5.25 bay Review

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(More customer reviews)I was looking for the best way to mount my 3 OCZ Vertex RAID drives in a 5.25" bay to free up my 3.5" internal bays and give my case a nice clean look.This Scythe Bay Rafter is what I found and I am completely impressed with the way it performs.It includes all 12 screws to mount the SSD drives as well as screws to mount the plastic rafter in the 5.25" bay if needed.If you want to give your case a nice clean professional look and increase air flow performance in your case this item works great. The only thing that I found that may give some users trouble is if you use the standard inline sata power plugs, it may create a tight fit with 3 plugged in.I used molex to (2) sata power adapters which are not inline at the plug and that works great. You will also want to use straight sata cables for at least the top two sata drives.A right angle cable will work fine for the bottom SSD.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Scythe Bay Rafter 2.5 or 3.5 hard drive conversion to 5.25 bay

Product Description:
Bay Rafter 2.5-5 allows the installation of a 2.5" HDD or 3.5" HDD in a 5.25" bay and provides a fitting opportunity for a fan with 120 mm in size and up to 38mm thickness.

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SILVERSTONE SDP08 3.5 to 2 X 2.5-Inch Bay Converter Review

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(More customer reviews)I have tried 3 different mounts for 2.5" drives in 3.5" racks. This is the only one that gets everything exactly right. Specifically, it allows mounting two 2.5" drives in the space of a 3.5" drive, and has all 10 tapped (threaded) holes that a 3.5" HDD has, in the right places (6 on the sides, 4 on the bottom). This makes it a truly universal mount -- it will fit in any case that has mounting holes designed to fit a standard 3.5" HDD.

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Product Description:
SILVERSTONE - 3.5" to 2X2.5" bay converter

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Western Digital 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA 10,000 RPM 16 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Enterprise Hard Drive WD3000HLFS Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Very impressive speed. Nearly 40% increase in RPM over the 7200 RPM drives is a significant improvement.The system start-up is noticeably faster. But the benefit to actual application programs varies. For example, programs that require small amount of data exchange will see minimal benefit. The speed of these programs is largely determined by the processor speed and RAM, because nearly everything is loaded into the RAM and not dependent much on the hard drive. On the other hand, applications like virus scanning which heavily depend on disk activity to access files will see the biggest benefit. I did a controlled test which showed that virus scanning is at least 30% faster with this disc than a 7200 RPM disk.

Noise could be an issue. Anyone who claims this is quiet is probably used to noisy computing environments. If you have a quiet computer in a fairly quiet room, you hear this hard drive distinctively. I have an Antec 900 with all fans running at low speed. The case is quiet but by no means silent. In this environment, the velociraptor is audible, although not terribly noisy. The noise was a bit distracting in the beginning, but I got used to it gradually and will now have to listen intentionally to hear it. To be fair, this hard drive is actually quieter than most old hard drives. But the consumer-grade hard drives have improved so much in noise in the last five years that most of them have become near silent. This hard drive is noticeably noisier than some other new hard drives I've seen recently.

Despite the slight noise, the hard drive is quite cool. My computer has a second hard drive (7200 RPM) in addition to this one. Both have very cool temperatures. The VelociRaptor is even 1

Western Digital WD3200JBRTL Caviar 320 GB PATA Hard Drive Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this drive to replace my measly 30GB boot drive that came with my Dell.In order to replace your boot drive, you need to MOVE your OS to the new drive, and make it bootable.Simply dragging files won't do it at all.

After unsuccessfully using Norton Ghost 9 to try to clone my Win XP boot drive, I decided to use the FREE Lifeguard utility that came with the WD drive.Among other tools, it has the ability to image a drive to a WD disk.

It worked on the FIRST TRY!

Here are a couple of hints:
* During the following process, I always had the WD utility disk in my CD-ROM drive.The system would boot to this disk when all else failed.I also made sure the utilities were installed to my old Boot Drive (C:)
* Connect the new WD drive as your SLAVE (your old boot drive should still be a Master).
* Launch the Lifeguard tool, and go to the Set Up Drive option.Tell it you want to make the WD be a NEW BOOT disk (NOT just a drive for additional space), and have it copy over all of your old C: drive.
* Once it completes (can take hours), it says it needs to reboot to finish the job.That scared me to death, since the PC will start up with an old Boot drive as master, and a New Boot drive as a slave.I was terrified it would ruin my registry.I crossed myself a few times and did it.XP booted on my old drive, then the tool re-launched and completed the process.
* At this point, the tool simply says it is finished - and nothing else...I shut down the system, disconnected the old master, configured the new boot drive as a Master, and connected it to the IDE Master.Upon powerup, Win XP came right up!The new Boot Drive automatically came up as C:.
* NOTE: I had a slave drive originally.During the cloning process, I removed it from the system.Once the new drive was configured as a master, I put the slave back, and it came up like nothing happened.It retained the same drive letter as well.

Bottom line: For $150 (after rebate) for a 320GB drive with a very nice toolset, you can't go wrong.This also would make a nice TIVO upgrade drive for Series2 TIVOs.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Western Digital WD3200JBRTL Caviar 320 GB PATA Hard Drive

Product Description:

Cool-running, quiet operation, superior performance and industry-leading reliability makes this next-generation WD Caviar SE drive the perfect hard drive for desktops and enterprise storage.

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Western Digital 300 GB VelociRaptor SATA 10,000 RPM 16 MB Cache Desktop Hard Drive WD3000GLFSRTL - Retail Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)If you're familiar with the previous Raptor drives, you have an idea of the amazing performance delivered by WD's enterprise drives.

One word of caution though: The models ending in GLFS, such as this one, have the SATA connector in a nonstandard location. That makes this unsuitable for RAID arrays, Mac Pros, Dells with fixed-position ribbon connectors, etc. Look for the model ending in HLFS for a model with slightly inferior cooling, but with standard backplane-friendly cable positioning.

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Product Description:
VelociRaptor 300 GB SATA Hard Drive
Engineered for maximum speed! WD VelociRaptor, the newest member of our unique class of 10,000 RPM SATA hard drive, combines a SATA 3 Gb/s interface and 16 MB cache, to deliver performance that's up to 35% faster than its speedy older brother.

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Gateway SX2801-05 Desktop (Black) Review

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(More customer reviews)I was really reluctant to give this Gateway a chance, prefering HPs and I heard Gateways always crash (and I've never had crashing problems with computers and I didn't want to start).My main desire was a WHISPER QUIET QUIET QUIET COMPUTER. I installed lots of software and after my big installs this Gateway would make a barely noticeable hum or buzz as though I was really putting it through its paces and working it hard, but then when I restarted it was quiet again. I decided to try Gateway after returning two HPs with Phenom Quad Core Processors (5260, 5360) and both were as loud as trucks as soon as I powered them up, before installing anything at all. So far this Gateway is very quiet, very fast, Windows 7 gave me no trouble with any installs. Plenty of usb ports in front and back. As far as reliabilty, time will tell. I do highly recommend this computer.

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Product Description:
Gateway SX2801-05 Desktop PC comes with these specs: Intel Pentium Dual-Core Processor E6700, Windows 7 Home Premium, Intel G43 Express Chipset, 6144MB DDR3 Memory, Integrated Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X4500HD, Hybrid TV Tuner, 1TB SATA Hard Drive (Green Product - variable RPM), Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, High-Definition Audio Support with 5.1-channel Audio Support, 9 - USB 2.0, Keyboard and Mouse, 12.0 lbs. | 5.4 kg (system unit only), 1 Year Parts and Labor Limited Warranty with Toll-Free Tech Support, Registration/ Limited Warranty Card, Norton Internet Security Suite 2009 Trial

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